The Whirlpool Road
by FireShadowWorker
Summary: Summary: FemNaru. AU. She left the village to fulfill her childhood dream of living in the sea and being a pirate. She had planned to come back after five years, but Ace always had a way of making her think twice of her plans.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I decided to rewrite the story since I thought that I could make the chapters better and develop the characters more. I will try to update this story often, but I am in university and I still need to focus on my studies.

* * *

The sea had always called out to Naruto.

For as long as she could remember, Naruto had always been drawn to the foreign merchants' stories about the sea and what it could offer to her. The promise of freedom, adventures but most of all the idea that no one could give her those cold eyes were enough for her to imagine what life would be like for her if she went out to sea. The thoughts of becoming like one of those terrifying pirates, like in the stories, were enough for her to shiver in delight. What life could be better than the pirates' life? She would always asked herself this question as the merchants gave into the demands of the children, who wanted to hear more about the world surrounding them.

Pirates seemed to have the best adventures.

When Naruto had been nine, she had told the Hokage about her dream of becoming a pirate. The old man had laughed and ruffled her hair, acting like she was joking when she declared that she wanted to become a pirate like the stories that she heard from the merchants. She even declared to the whole class when their teacher asked them to talk about their dreams. Shikamaru had told everyone how he wanted to marry a normal girl and have two kids, a boy and a girl, which had earned weird looks from everyone. Shino wanted to master his clan's techniques while Sasuke dreamt of becoming a part of the Konoha Military Police Force, 'just like my Dad' were his words. Everyone had smiled and sighed at his declaration. When she told her dream to the whole class, everyone laughed and looked at her like she was stupid. Everyone told her that there was no way anyone would let her become a pirate. Who would let the deadlast join their crew? One classmate sneered. She couldn't even do the most basic techniques, another classmate said to her with a glint of cruelty shining through his eyes.

At that moment, Naruto made a vow to herself to become so strong that no one would dare to make fun of her dream of becoming a pirate.

In the twelve years since she declared her dreams, Naruto had gained the respect of everyone in the village and was even considered one of the strongest Kunoichi, but her urge to go to the sea had never died down. If Sakura and the rest of their friends knew that she still desired to go to the sea then they would think she was insane. They would question her about her dreams of becoming Hokage, asking her if she was willing to give it up just to chase some stupid childhood dream. The only person, who wouldn't question her, would be Hinata. Sweet Hinata had always known about her dream of going to sea, exploring it and how she wanted to be free from everything. Her best friend was the only person she talked about her desires because only Hinata knew the truth:

Naruto wanted to go to sea and be a pirate long before she settled into the dream of becoming Hokage. No one seemed to recall the fact that her eyes lit up whenever someone mentioned the sea or pirates. Her teammates had never stopped to wonder how she knew the boat terms, having presumed that she didn't understand anything about boats. No one stopped to ask her why she kept bothering Tazuna's friend about navigation since they always presumed that she wanted to fill the boat with noise.

After all, the dead last would never consider travelling when her dream was to become Hokage.

In all honesty if Naruto was a better person then she would inform everyone about her plans of leaving the village and becoming a pirate. Tsunade would kill her if she knew what she planned to do. Sakura would beg her to stay, telling her that she needed her since Sasuke left the village to atone for his sins or so he told them. She would bring out the waterworks and guilt her until their teammate come back. If there was one thing Naruto came to hate about her teammate, it was the way she lied. Sakura acted like she couldn't survive without them but the blond-haired girl knew the truth. Sakura could survive without them. Five years ago, it would be the truth but Sakura wasn't the same little girl that started out. Kakashi-sensei would just be confused about why she planned to do this but he would understand.

Telling her friends and teammates goodbye and explaining to them her reasons for leaving the village was another reason why she couldn't bring herself to tell them about her plans. So she left letters in their mailbox, explaining them her reasons and asking them to understand. It was a cowardly thing to do but Naruto was not as fearless as people thought she was. Even a person as strong as her could still have fear.

 _I will come back one day and maybe they will all forgive me for leaving the way I did,_ Naruto reminded herself when she gave one last look at the village's gates. She would chant those words whenever doubts started to fill her mind. _It might be selfish of me to leave but no one was perfect! I am not a saint_ , Naruto would tell herself as she walked towards the nearest port that would send her to the first port outside of the Elemental Nations. She just needed five years to become a pirate, to see what the sea could offer her and then she would come back to Konoha.

She would accept whatever punishment they gave her for leaving as long as her desire was sated.

Though Naruto knew in her heart, she could never really be truly happy in Konoha anymore. The war had filled her with so many emotional scars that she could no longer looked at the village without remembering the corpses of her comrades. It would fade, Sakura would reassure her but it had been two months since the war ended. Two whole months since it ended and still there was no sign of her nightmares ending. Every night, she had the same reoccurring dream and it was too tiring to see it. She couldn't walk in the streets without remembering the people that they lost, and Naruto wanted to live her life again.

It took her two weeks to find a boat travelling outside the Elemental Nations and the moment she located the boat which would take her out of here, she didn't hesitate to ask them to let her join them. The moment they recognized the whisker cheeks on her face was the moment they agreed to let her join them. She didn't know exactly where they were going but as long as it could fulfilled her need to see the sea then anything was fine for her.

She just wanted to see what the sea could offer her...no what the world outside the Elemental Nations could give her.

* * *

"You see that piece of land over there," the Captain asked her on their third week in sea. He was a kind old man who had given her a smile and allowed her to journey with them, even insisting that she didn't help out since she was his guest. The old man pointed straight ahead at the distant figure, which to Naruto, looked almost like a small dot in a large empty piece of paper. Naruto nodded and leaned forward at the gunwale. "That is where I will be dropping you off, Uzumaki-san just like I promised you all those weeks ago."

"How long before we reach there, Cap?" She questioned him, bouncing up and down in her spot as she stared at the land which would really begin her journey of being a pirate. Would she find pirates there? Would they allow her to join them even though she didn't know much about this strange world? So many questions she wanted answered but there was no real way of her knowing what would happen to her.

"An hour or two if the weather is being kind to us," the Captain answered with a smile on his face. The smile on his face made Naruto wonder if the man would have given her this same smile if she hadn't been a hero. It would not be the first time she asked those kinds of questions to herself. The first time she asked this question was when the civilians started to treat her nicely when she saved her village from Pein. She wondered how could people treat her differently when she saved them from danger but treat her like shit when she was being herself to them. She was the same person so why did the people of her village treat her differently now she saved them? She pondered and pondered over it before finally deciding she would never understand them.

"If you don't mind me asking Uzumaki-san, why do you wish to leave the Elemental Nations?" He asked her, snapping her from her train of thought. The captain rubbed his beard as he stared down at her. "I have lived long enough to see so many men wish to have what you had in that village of yours yet you left everything behind, why?"

There was no hint of judgement in his tone, just pure curiosity when he asked her this question. Was the sea worth everything she left? The old man was right about how lucky she was to have the things she had. How many people could say they have the respect of the leaders of so many nations? Who could say a woman was powerful enough to bring the people to their knees? So many people would kill for what she had but she threw it all a way so she could accomplish her childhood dream.

"Power isn't everything," Naruto finally answered as memories of Sasuke's betrayal flooded into her mind. She squashed down the images rushing into her mind, reminding herself how her best friend did come back to them in the end. The blonde took in a deep breath and everything. "It is great and everything... I mean I can get away with a lot of things if I wanted too but I always dreamt of the sea. Before I dreamt of becoming a ninja, I dreamt of roaming the sea. The promise of freedom and adventure that is something I want."

In the past two months, she had been living the life of a celebrity. Everywhere she went, people would run up to her and ask her for her photograph or ask her to sign something for them. She had people following her every movement, talking about the things she had done and everything. It had been fun at first but after the first month, Naruto had grown fed up with the way they treated her. Maybe if she had been twelve, she would have loved the attention showered at her but she was a grown woman now.

She wanted to be able to breath without people writing down everything she did.

"The sea is the best place to be since it offers everything you want, Uzumaki but it can be a very dangerous place," the Captain told her, gazing distantly at the sea. "It could lead you to lands filled with so much treasure and is large enough that you could find people who could fill the ache in your heart but it can lead to so much heart ache. I have seen many close friends die in sea because they either didn't know how to survive or run into pirates, who murdered them in cold blood. I have seen good men butchered by Marines because they disobeyed the law set by them...but I still love this beautiful cruel place."

 _But can I find people who will accept me the moment they find out about Kurama? Can I find a person who I know wouldn't betray me they found something better? Who wouldn't try to kill me if I stood in their way? Can they accept me for who I am and not the person I pretend to be?_ Naruto wanted to ask him but she knew the Captain would never give her the answer she wanted. No one could except a person who could see the future.

"You aren't the only one who loves the sea."

"If you couldn't find what you were looking for in the whole of Elemental Nations then the sea will give you what you want," he told her with eyes that stared at her with so much understanding that Naruto just tore her eyes away from him because she didn't want anyone to understand her. "The sea has everything a person like you or me desire, the only thing you need to do is search for it."

He said it with so much conviction that Naruto couldn't help but believe him. The old man's words weren't enough to squash any doubts she had but it was enough for her to know she could not let a chance escape her. Being a pirate might lead her to the people who could stop the loneliness which still linger in her.

They might heal her from the emotional scars which had festered and grown over the years. She just hoped the people she found would be enough to heal her from the pain she had.

* * *

If you were to ask Ace what drew him to his very first crew mate then he would answer with full honesty that it had been her bright blue eyes.

He had been in the small town for over a week when he saw her. For the past seven days, Ace been trying to find his very first crew member but there hadn't been a single man or woman, who had the requirements that he wanted or were uninterested in becoming a pirate with him. He was about to lose hope when he spotted a very pretty girl jumping off a very large boat. Now, he would not deny the fact that it was her physical appearance which drew his attention. Her sunkissed hair, curvaceous body and ocean blue eyes were enough for him to keep his eyes fixed on her. The second thing which drew his attention was the bright smile playing on her lips as she thanked the captain, who waved at the girl before barking orders to the rest of his crew. Her smile reminded him of Luffy with how large and warm it was but her eyes ruined the image. Her eyes were duller when he compared it to her smile.

 _It is a shame to because she would look prettier if her eyes smiled like her smile,_ Ace thought as he stared at the pretty girl, who kept talking to the old man. If her eyes became brighter than it would out shine any jewels and maybe even the ocean itself, since her eyes were a brilliant shade of blue. It was a pity that her eyes were lifeless.

"Did your mother ever tell ya that it is rude to stare at girls?"

Jumping from his spot, Ace twisted his head and gawked at the sight of the pretty girl standing behind him with a poker face. She had her arms crossed against her chest, tapped her foot while she stared at him. He gulped and turned his head to look at the captain, who smiled and shook his head, before turning to look at the unamused girl. He opened his mouth to apologize but closed it when he saw the teasing smile playing on her lips. He relaxed his shoulders and smiled sheepishly, earning a throaty laugh from the girl.

"I was just kidding," the girl waved her hand at him. "And it was worth it since your reaction was priceless."

"I hope it was worth it since it was very rude for me to stare at you like that without trying to introduce myself," Ace told her, giving her a smile which he hoped conveyed how much he didn't mean to stare at her. No matter what this girl say, it had been rude of him to look at her. He was no longer the ten year old who wouldn't apologize for doing something like this. He learnt manners so he could thank Shanks for saving his little brother. "The name is Portgas D Ace but you can call me Ace."

"Ace? Like the card?" He nodded his head and the girl laughed. "I thought my Mum must have been delirious with pain but you mister might have a crappier name then mine. My name is Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto but you can call me Naruto."

"Your name is a lot crappier than mine," he told her, earning a twitching eyebrow from the girl. "Your parents named ya fishcake."

"It means Maelstorm too, goddamnit! Why do people always focus on the food meaning of my name and not the badass meaning? " She cried, tugging her ponytail as she stared at him with so much annoyance that it surprised him he hadn't combusted on the spot. He laughed, finding it absolutely funny how the girl didn't take insult for the fact he called her name crappier than his but for saying her name meant fishcake. Luffy would have found it funny and would have easily remembered who Naruto was just because she was named after food.

It had been over three weeks since he left home yet he still missed his little brother.

"Cuz they might find it funny how easy it annoys the crap out of you," he offered.

She tilted her head, rubbed her chin and nodded. "Wouldn't surprise me if that's why they kept using it as a reference. I hope when I find a crew to join they don't constantly remind me of the crappy meaning of my name. No one will ever take me seriously if they only think of ramen...though it would be nice to have some ramen now. I haven't had any in weeks," her face brightened and Ace felt dread creep up in his stomach when she stared at him. "Tell me do y'know any good ramen places for me to eat? Cuz I just arrived here and since you are a local…"

"I am not a local," he corrected her. "I came here to find my first mate."

She blinked her eyes and stared at him with wide curious eyes. "What kind of crew are ya looking for?"

He glanced around the port before gesturing for her to come closer. She frowned, blinked her eyes before doing what he asked. He bit the inside of his cheeks as he felt the girl's long soft hair tickled his cheek. No matter how tempting it was for him to sneeze, he doubt the girl would be happy with him if there was snot on her hair. The number of times Makino drilled it in his head was enough for him to try to hold it in.

"A pirate crew," he whispered. "I might not have a crew now but I am going to become a pirate."

Ace stared at her, waited for her to either run away or to laugh at him, and frowned when he saw her reaction. Instead of running away from him like he expected, the girl looked at him like he was the answer to everything. While flattering, it was kind of confusing as most people he knew would laugh at him because of how young he was. This girl just looked at him with so much hope and happiness that he knew, just knew that he found his first mate.

"Y'know what Ace? I think we're going to get along just fine."

And this was the start of his very complicated relationship with Naruto.

* * *

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone, who reviewed the last chapter.

* * *

"You know we have to think of a name for our crew!" Naruto reminded Ace as she gazed down at the sea water. It had been a week since she joined him and till now, the two of them hadn't came up with a name for their crew. Well, it was more like Ace hadn't came up with a name. She hadn't been of any help since she was terrified to have inherited her parents terrible naming skills. Naruto was the name that her parents gave her despite the fact that they knew damn well that they were having a girl. Didn't they realize how many people mistaken her for a boy because of her name? Then again, she couldn't imagine herself having a girly name.

In that sense, her parents weren't terrible when it came to naming her.

Taking a break from rowing, Ace turned and raised his eyebrow. "Shouldn't we have more members before we decide on a name for the crew?"

"Y'know when someone decides to make a crew then they would have made up a name before setting off to the sea," she pointed out, taking the ores from his hands. She began to row as she continued on. "Cause I wouldn't want to go to someone and just tell them to join my crew, only for them to ask us what is the name of our crew. What do you want us to tell them? Oh, we don't have a name because the Cap here didn't bother to think of a name since he wanted to have every member of his crew and then think of a name."

Ace let out a laugh and looked up at the clear blue sky, where the clouds were doing its usual lazy stroll, before giving her a very lazy smile. The smile on his face almost made Naruto want to drop the topic and focus on rowing them to their next destination, where she could think of the millions of adventures they were going to have. She tightened her grip on the ore. No, she shouldn't let his smile cloud her judgement. She spent so many years yearning to become a pirate and having adventures that there was no way she could allow their crew go unnamed. If he wanted her to drop the subject then he needed to think of something more creative, because she was Naruto Uzumaki. She was the girl who didn't know when to give up on a topic. If she spent three years trying to bring her best friend back home then she could spend hours bugging him until he made up a name.

"Well if we need a name so badly then do you have any ideas on what we could name the crew? Cause I only have an idea on what the flag will look like."

Naruto placed the in front of them and raised her eyebrows at him. Was Ace really asking her to name the crew? Does he not notice her name implies that she was a terrible in naming? Her friends had made comments about her terrible naming skills. In fact, they even compared her naming skills to her father and the Second Hokage, which wasn't a compliment. Of all the things she inherited from her father, looks aside, she inherited his horrible naming skills.

"Are you seriously asking me to name the crew? Does my name not tell you that it is a bad idea?"

Ace shrugged his shoulder. "It wasn't like you named yourself."

"No but it means I might have inherited my parents' naming skills," Ace pouted and the blond-haired girl groaned. "You know you are lucky that I like you or else I will tell you to go screw yourself and figure out a name by yourself!"

"So, what is your idea?"

"The only idea I have is that our crew should have a name which have to deal with cards," Naruto answered, looking up at the sky. "With your name being a card and all, we can't not give a card name. Other then that, I ain't naming the crew unless the world is ending. I am not kidding when I said that I might have inherited my Dad's terrible naming skills."

For a brief second, her captain's eyes darkened at the mention of the word 'Dad' before brightening again in the next second. If it weren't for the fact she could sense negative emotions then Naruto would have thought she had imagined the whole thing. It was very difficult for her to deny the fact that her Captain felt pain and anger at the mention of the world 'Dad', which meant fathers were a topic that should be avoided. It was fine with her and in fact she could understand even if his father did something terrible to him. She might have spent a couple of hours with her reanimated father and even punched him in the face for giving her a shitty burden, but Naruto hadn't completely forgiven him for leaving her in that shitty situation.

"It was your Dad that named you after fishcake?" Naruto groaned at the sight of her captain's mischievous glint. He still found it funny that her parents had named her after a ramen topping. No matter how many times she corrected, plead and even yelled, the older boy wouldn't give in to the idea that they named her after the Maelstorm. The bastard just wanted to imagine her parents named after food so that he doesn't accept the fact that his name was worse than hers.

"My name also means Maelstorm!" she grumbled. "And yes, he gave me that name but it wasn't 'cause he wanted me to have a badass name. He wanted me to be named after a character in his teacher's book. Dad hoped I would be like the character in the book."

"Didn't they realize that wasn't the kind of name to give to a girl?"

"Considering the fact that my mother wasn't an exact symbol of girl, he probably realized that his baby girl wasn't going to like anything remotely girly," Naruto shrugged her shoulder. "I mean even if he argued against it, my Mum would have given me a name that wasn't really girly and anyways it suits me. I can't imagine my name not being Naruto and it was useful for people to mistaken me as a boy when I was a kid."

There had been times when she had been annoyed by the fact that her parents had named her after a ramen topping but there had been times when it had been useful. Her parents probably didn't realize it but her name saved her from a few drunk civilians. It saved her from having the fangirls thinking that she liked Sasuke and it allowed her to learn all the things that the boys were learning. In fact, pretending to be a boy had been her greatest prank. Only the Hokage knew the truth and he told her that it was fine for her to continue on with the prank. It had been funny to watch everyone's reactions when they realized that Naruto wasn't a boy, but a girl. The prank would have been ruined if someone asked her if she was a girl since she would have told them the truth.

"Why was it easier?"

"Life is crueler when you are a girl that has no parents."

"How did they die?" Ace asked. He stared at her for a good couple of seconds before quickly adding, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I got seventeen years to get used to the fact they were gone, Ace," Naruto reminded him with a small smile on her face. "Besides, I lost them the same way some of the kids in my village lost their parents: they died fighting a demon. My parents died protecting me and my whole village from a demon, which was being controlled by someone outside the village. Though I didn't learn the last bit until a couple of months ago."

"Must have been quite a way to go," Ace said, looking up at the sky.

"They died being a hero for our village," Naruto agreed. "The best way to die, besides being surrounded by friends and family, is to die protecting the people you love."

If she had died fighting Sasuke or died protecting one of her friends then Naruto would have been proud with the way she gone down. Sure, she would have been disappointed with never having seen the sea, or even becoming Hokage but, she would have been happy that she protected her friends till her dying breath. Kurama would disagree, telling her she shouldn't have died like that, but Naruto didn't care what her friend had to say to her. As long as her friends were fine then she would have been happy. The demon thought that she deserved more than to sacrifice her life for a guy that didn't give a damn about her.

"So if your parents were heroes then why would a child of a hero become a pirate? And why did they treat you with cruelty if your parents were heroes?"

Naruto wondered when Ace would ask this question. In the week she had travelled with him, not once did he ever ask her why she decided to become a pirate. He never even ask her why she chose to join him instead of waiting for a better pirate crew to join. Not that there was a better crew she wanted to join since Ace was fun to hang with. After all the things she had been through, Naruto thought she deserved to hang around with a crew filled with fun and laughter then a crew, who acted like too much like Sasuke. Still, she did ask herself at night why he never asked her. Either he thought never to look away from a free gift or he just never considered asking her why.

"Merchants used to come to my village and tell us stories about the sea," Naruto closed her eyes and allowed her memories to dance around her eyes. "They talked about the freedom and of the adventures that they faced when they fought with the pirates or seen against the pirates and the marines. I liked the idea of freedom because I have never felt free in my village. People were always watching my every move as if they couldn't get enough of me and there had been some people that had been more than cruel to me. Those people became less cruel once they knew I was a child of their hero," that was a lie but she wasn't going to tell him that she saved their asses. "I hated it. I wanted to be seen as me and not someone they built a picture of. I thought to myself that if I went to the sea then no one would judge me. The sea doesn't care if you are the child of the devil or the child of a hero because the sea sees you as you…does that make sense?"

"Nope," Ace said and the blond-haired girl sighed. "But I have a question to ask…do you think the child of the devil deserve to live?"

"The child isn't the parent itself," Naruto answered, giving him a frown. "A child is innocent from its parents' deed that is the way I see it though some people may argue differently. My father is seen as a hero in our village, but if you go to another village then he would be seen as a villain itself 'cause of the number of people he killed. Either way, that village shouldn't kill me because of what my father did to them. Everyone deserve to have the right to live, no matter what shit they did."

"What if the child of the devil wonder if they should have the right to live? What would you tell it? What would you say to the child of the demon that killed your parents?" There was something about the way he asked her which made Naruto think they weren't really talking about Kurama's non-existent kid. She couldn't place her finger on it but Naruto felt like the topic was something deeper than that.

"If the Kyuubi had a child then I would tell it that I dislike how its father made me an orphan and how much I hate its father for making me live a shitty life," Naruto answered honestly. "But I will tell it that it isn't his fault cuz my parents made it lose its parent too so, we are kinda even. I will even try to play with it 'cause I think it would be lonely. Being a child of the devil itself would be a lonely life, wouldn't it? No one would want to play with it because all the parents would tell 'em to avoid it 'cause its' Papa murdered a lot of people. It ain't fair and it ain't nice so I will play with it 'cause loneliness is a hell lot more painful than physical pain. Since ya ask me this question then you tell me your answer."

"I don't know."

"Since we are going to be in sea for the next couple of years, I think you will find the answer to that question but it might take ages to find it." Ace blinked his eyes, earning a small smile from Naruto. "Take it from my experience, you won't find the answer until you are forced to face it."

"Wait, you face the child of the demon which killed your parents?"

"Nope, I made friends with the demon who killed my parents," Naruto answered, shrugging her shoulder. "Might seem weird but hating someone for something out of their control isn't right since I know why he killed so many people from my village. It ain't right and he isn't nice but the Kyuubi is great once you get passed his barriers. Anyways, can't keep hating them because it is exhausting and killing them isn't any good 'cause you will just breed more hate. Nah, the best way is to become friends with them."

"You are a complete and utter weirdo."

"Oi, you asked me to answer your question and I did." Naruto flipped her hair. "Not my fault, you can't wrap the idea around your head. Anyways...do we still have some of the watermelon that I sliced?"

"...No."

"You ate the last slice of watermelon while I was talking didn't you?" He let out a nervous laugh and Naruto reminded herself not to hit the older boy for eating the last of their supplies. They still had some apples, Naruto told herself as she shook her head at him. No matter what, she wasn't going to let anyone starve in this ship. If their crew members eat the way Ace and her did then the blonde was going to do a lot of gambling to get the money they need for food.

Still, it was nice to be able to talk to someone who didn't know the truth about her because Naruto could never tell her teammates or friends about this. In their eyes, she was supposed to be the happy girl who never questioned about her existence. It might not have occurred to them that the happiness she wore was just a mask she used to ignore the loneliness and pain she felt.

With Ace, she could finally drop that aspect of the mask with him.

* * *

It really shouldn't surprise Ace that the first-place Naruto dragged him was the bar, but it did. He knew his crewmate wasn't someone that was considered girly with the way she dressed or the way she talked, but it still surprised him. Maybe it was the fact that all the girls he had seen, didn't do what his friend did. His limited experience taught him that girls prefer to shop and be pampered, which included Dadan. He had never seen a girl, whose first instincts were to go to the bar.

"Why did we come here? Shouldn't we be looking for more crew members?"

The blond-haired girl twisted her head and raised her eyebrow. "We have two options when it comes to our money: A) you and I cut down the amount of food we eat or B) I gamble and get us more money, so we can buy more food that will last us more than two weeks."

"And who says you are going to gamble? Maybe I want to gamble."

The whiskered girl smiled and patted his cheek, which made him feel like he was a little boy. "With your habit of falling asleep at any moment, I'm not taking the risk of them grabbing our money and running away with it. Besides, I am a better gambler than you."

"You don't know that," he argued as the blond-haired girl forced him to sit on the bartender's table.

Naruto twisted her body and grinned. "No one is a better gambler than me, Freckles. Now let me win us some money and maybe a new crew mate, because with my people's skills, I might be able to get a crew mate that is willing to join a pair of teens."

Ace could only gawk as his crew member as she twisted her body around. He bit his lips when his crewmember stride away from him with swaying hips. Why must she walk like that? Did she not know that men wouldn't focus on her? He clenched his hand into a fist when he spotted several men staring at his crew mate's ass. If he didn't know Naruto could handle them then he would yell at them for looking at the girl like she was a piece of meat.

"Can I have some sake!" He said, waving at the bartender. The old man didn't answer or made any indication that he heard him, instead his eyes were still fixed on the blond-haired girl, who greeted her opponents with a large smile. "Can you please stop staring at her! I want some sake please!"

That snapped the man from his gawking.

"You are going to let your girl gamble with those men?" The bartender asked as he poured the sake into the glass. "This isn't exactly a safe place for her to be."

Ace took a large gulp of his sake. "Naruto isn't my girl; she is her own person. Second of all, don't let her looks fool you because that girl can take care of herself and lastly, she can out gamble them."

Well he hoped so because all of their money was with her. Ace hoped that her confidence were going to pay off because he didn't know how to get more money. If he was going to be honest, he didn't exactly thought ahead when it came to getting more money when they were going to start out. He thought that they were going to steal some money from some boats, but there had been no boats near them that they could loot.

It was kind of worrying that Naruto knew more than him.

"Even if she can take care of herself, it doesn't mean that you can't try and keep the men away from her," the bartender said, pointing to the men in the gambling table. All of them weren't even trying to pretend that their eyes weren't fixated in her chest. "I would try and hit them with a broomstick with the way that their eyes are undressing her."

Naruto would kill him if he even tried to do that, Ace mused to himself as he stared at his laughing crewmate, who took the money from the men. His crewmember might be petite and beautiful, but she wasn't someone who liked the idea of someone saving her. In fact, she didn't need anyone to take care of her. It was something he came to realize when he tried to wake her up. He barely touched her shoulder when Naruto grabbed hold of his arm, twisted it before flipping him over. For someone that was small, she was seriously strong. Not only that but she could be so terrifying.

He shivered as he recalled how her hair split when she realized that he woke her up from her sleep.

"Like I said, Naruto can take care of yourself," Ace repeated himself. "I don't want you to think that I take someone, who can't take care of herself. She might look delicate and I will be very stupid to deny the fact that she is beautiful, but she isn't someone to underestimate. Now please don't make me repeat myself and can you give me another round of sake."

"You gotta be cheating, girl!" One of the men yelled, waving his fist at her. "How the hell could I lose so much money?"

"That is because you suck at poker," Naruto sang, pulling the chips towards her. She twisted her head away from the angry man and shot Ace a cheeky smile, which told him just how much fun she was having in the bar. She winked at him before calling out for more people to play against her. Sometimes, Ace wondered if Luffy had been born a girl if he would have acted like Naruto.

His friend wasn't exactly the same person like his brother but they acted so similar that he wondered if this was what it was like to have a little sister to worry about.

 _Though no brother looks at their sister the way you do,_ a small voice whispered in his mind as he stared at Naruto's bright smile. Naruto was his crew member and was someone he respected even though he didn't know much about her. He might be attracted to her but Ace would never do anything to her. Besides, what he felt for Naruto would fade because it was nothing but an attraction that would fade over a couple of months.

It wasn't like this was the first time that he was attracted to a girl.

"Want another glass of sake? I have a feeling your friend isn't going to stop until she sucks everyone's wallet dry," the bartender mused. Ace nodded his head at the bartender's offer and glanced around the bar for anyone, who he thought could join their crew. All his life he had been dreaming of the day where he would make his crew and it had started with Naruto. Nice Naruto with her bright cheeky smile, who told him that she thought they were going to get along just fine.

Now, he needed to take the next step and find the next crew member.

"I heard from Naruto, you are looking for a pirate crew is that true?" Ace blinked his eyes and turned his body around to look at a tall young man with wavy brown hair staring at him with curiosity and weariness. He glanced at Naruto, who shot him a thumbs-up, before looking back at the man in front of him. Wasn't she supposed to be getting them more money? How did she have time to talk about this? "She says you offer freedom...is that true?"

"I don't give a damn where you come from or who the hell you are," Ace answered honestly. "You want to join our crew?"

The brown-haired man raised his eyebrow, glanced at Naruto before looking at the glass of sake in his hands. "If you beat me in a drinking contest and tell that blonde of yours to give me back my hundred beli then I will join your crew. I ain't wanted here anyway, maybe the sea will be better if that girl of yours is talking the truth."

"She isn't my girl," Ace said, gesturing for the bartender to bring another glass of sake. "Naruto is my first mate and friend, not my girl."

"You aren't tapping that ass? Aren't you a weirdo?"

Ace choked on his drink at the man's words and yelled, "I am your Captain! You shouldn't be calling me weirdo."

"Didn't beat me in a drinking contest yet, future Cap." He reminded him as the bartender slid a glass of beer in front of the brown-haired male. "Besides what else you call a man who doesn't try tapping a pretty woman that close to 'em? The sea is a pretty lonely place and a man has urges, urges a girl like Naruto can help sate...unless ya don't swing that way."

"I am straight! And Naruto isn't someone you can look at or disrespect," Ace said evenly. "If you become a member of our crew then you treat her with the respect she deserves cuz Naruto can wipe the floor with anyone."

"Trust me, I ain't interested in a girl who beats me in poker," the man answered as the two of them gulp down their sake. "She plays real dirty that one and I know women and that women over there ain't my type. Disrespect her? The way she scared the crap one of the players, who tormented me during my childhood, is enough for me to bow down to her and call her queen. I'm strong enough but when it comes to that guy...I just want to wet my pants. His Pops is the chief of this town and he gets away with everything, bullying, name calling, stealing...you name it and he gets away with it. Me. My Pops is a thief, who stole from the mayor and abandoned me to deal with this bullshit. I steal like my old man Ace, I might betray you like my old man betrayed the village. Do you still want to this contest, knowing this? Because you can back down now."

 _Do I have any right to turn him down? I am the son of the devil,_ Ace thought as he stared at the man's shifty brown eyes. He would be a hypocrite if he turned the man down for something like this. There was a chance he could steal from him but Ace never really given much thought about the treasure. Why would he when his dream was nothing to do with it? And maybe the man was trying to test him to see if he would hold his family's history against him.

Why else would he tell him about his past?

"Give me all the alcohol that you have Bartender-san!" The bartender blinked his eyes and stared at him like he was crazy. "Me and…forgive me, I forgot to ask you for your name. I am Ace."

"That girl of yours is right...you are a good guy if ya still willing to take me with ya. The name is Jack La Hire and I will say it again that girl of yours was right, you are good guy if you want to take me as your crew member even though I'm a son of a thief," Ace glanced at Naruto, who gave him a smile as she took all the money from the crying men, and then back at the serious man in front of him. "I will drink with ya but not as a competition, Ace. I am your new crew mate now."

"You are in my crew just like that."

"Naruto did all the hard work of talking you up and making ya a swell guy," Jack answered, gulping down his sake. "Ya know everyone over there is laughing at her since no one thinks a girl like her would become a pirate or should go for a pirate."

"And you believe her?"

"Doesn't have a look of a liar that girl," Jack replied, gulping down a sake. "I know to spot my kind and I think the three of us have more in common than we think. Don't know what it is but ya accepted me even though I am an outcast just like she say she will. She said anyone who wants to be a pirate or wants freedom should go with ya. She says she will bet all her money ya will be a famous pirate and no one gambles all their money if they ain't serious."

"Of course I was serious," Naruto declared, sliding to the seat beside him. The blue-eyed girl grinned at him before hauling the sack of money, she made during their whole time they were here, onto the seat beside her. If he guessed right, Ace think the money could last them for the next couple of months. "Our Ace is named after one of the strongest card in a deck of cards."

She blinked her eyes, rushed towards the table before rushing back towards them with a smile on her face. The blonde slammed the card on the table, gave them a smile and said, "I think I know we should call ourselves! I don't know why the hell I didn't think about it earlier since I spent so much time as a kid gambling money."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Spade Pirates! We should call ourselves The Spade Pirates" Jack and Ace blinked their eyes at her but the blonde nodded her head. "Think about it, Ace is a card and since Ace here is our captain then it is only natural, we should be called after a card and Jack's last name reminds me of the playing cards…though your last name doesn't make our crew sound badass since it doesn't sound badass enough. Ace's nickname could be Ace of Spades since it means he can warn people that death is approaching them."

"Y'know you are also predicting that Ace is gonna die."

 _No one would truly miss me if I die._

"If that's the case then I ain't letting our Captain die on us," Naruto said firmly, swinging her arm around Ace's shoulder. "Cuz one, he is too cute to die on us and two I keep my promises and I promise never to let our Captain die unless it was from natural causes...though him falling asleep on us while he eats doesn't count. Besides, life would be terrible if he dies on us."

His heart might have just become slightly lighter when Naruto declared that to him.

* * *

A/N: Please tell me what you think of this chapter especially about the relationship between Naruto and Ace.


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